Ok i was messing around with the radio in the car this weekend. It has one of those aftermarket pioneer radios in it and the memory doesn't stay. I took the instrument cluster apart a little to try and get to the oragne memory wire. I wasn't really able to get out the cluster but i found the orange wire. Naturally i couldn't find the volt/ohm meter to test if this wire had 12 volts all the time. The guy has the wire running over to the wires for the courtesy light, everyone of them is missing by the way. The wire had a fused resistor in it and i wasn't sure if it was good or not. So i snipped out the resistor and connected the wires together bypassing it i put everything back together and went out for a ride. Well my memory is still not working but now my lights for my speedo, tach, guages aren't working. There is a light on under the ashtray that does come on when i turn on the lights but that is it. The only things i touched were the resistor, which i can't find now!!!! there is a bulb that was in the wiper switch that i took out and i am not sure if the power wire for the lighter was hooked up but i left it unhooked. I checked the fuses and they looked good. Kinda lost here didn't really think the wire from the radio could mess anything up but the resistor thing i am not sure how it works and it was hooked into the power for the courtesy lights.....Electrical problems are my worst nightmare with cars all the wires going everywhere that i don't understand what they do!!!!! Are there any ground wires in there anywhere i might have hit? All of the guages work just not the lights oh and my clock started working again to at least for an hour before it stopped lol. Any help in the right direction woul be appreciated. On the plus side i got some new parts ffrom Corvette central to take care of a couple things i wanted to fix

 

Either tap into the clock line, or run a new fused constant 12v wire to the battery.

 

Typically the orange wire should be to a terminal that is "live" meaning that there should be power to it at all times. This will allow the clock, preset stations, etc to retain there memory. There should also be a red wire that will need to go to a terminal that has power only when the ignition is on.

The best way to do this is to get a test light. As far as the lights not working now, I am assuming that something may have shorted out when you removed the fuse. I would highly recommend that you place a fuse back in the wire that you cut the fuse out of and then begin your testing again.

 

well i got a volt/ohm meter today and the wire running to the orange memory wire has a constant 12 volt....so i guess there is something wrong with the radio. Wish i had just waited to get the meter before i messed with it i wouldn't have my interior light problem lol.

 

ok i'm an idiot lol i went out this morning and figured i would use the meter to check the fuses. i pulled out the fuse for the lights and it was very clearly burnt out....how i didn't see this the first time i checked it i have no idea. So now my lights appear to be working at elast what i could barely see in the bright light should know for sure tonight the UPS guy keeps dropping off Corvette Central boxes woo hooo

 

My mom's Blazer had a bizzare problem, basically doing what yours is but never getting proper constant 12v power. It turns out a door switch for the dome lights was shorted, and when that was fixed, the problem with the radio went away...

 

One other thought. Make sure that there is power to the orange wire when the ignition is off, and the doors or shut. It is possible that the previous owner may have wired into the lighting wire and may go out shen the door pins close, depending on where they tapped into the wire.

 

i was just happy to have my interior lights back and haven't worried about the radio lately lol. But now that you mention the constant 12 volts....when i was checking the wires yesterday they were only at 6 volts when i had checked them the day before they were 12. have to check some pin switches tonight.